InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It's Not Over Yet... ❯ A Hard Past ( Chapter 12 )

I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

Nice long chappie last time, huh? Well, this one will be quite a rival of that last one. It turned out to be much longer than expected, but it is important to the plot, and I know you'll like the ending, for sure! Please R&R.

Chapter 12: A Hard Past

Well, the next day, Katie woke up early for church at 9:00 am. She walked into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal. As she went through her routine of making her meal, she thought about spending more time with Brian. The previous day was a lot of fun, but what would today hold? As Katie sat in the living room, watching the Weather Channel, she thought about his reaction to her wanting to know where he lives. How he set up a wall around himself to protect his thoughts from her. She had never seen him that shy before. Not even when he braved asking her out earlier in the year. `Huh, you'd figure he'd be more worried about me rejecting him, than me seeing his house and family' she thought as she saw that the day was forecasted to be beautiful.

She couldn't get it out of her head, not even an hour later, and she waited for her parents to arrive, sitting in her dress all dolled up for church. She participated in the choir and the bell choir during the services on Sunday mornings. Katie was the kind of worshipper who can't just sit there and listen; she loved to be a part of the service. She had attended other churches, and none of them needed her to be a part of the service, so she felt like a number. One thing she had always wanted to do was to help spread the word. She had attended one church that was one of those huge churches where the services were held for over 1,000 people, and the sanctuaries were not like the usual chapel or house of God, but auditoriums with seating like for a theatrical show on Broadway. If she had ever felt like a number, it was in a church like that. The church her mother's side of the family usually went to was that type of church.

The last time Katie and her family went there, they went to go see a production the church drama club was putting on for Easter. There were reserved tickets and seats for all of them. When they arrived just a tad late, her father dropped them off at the door and went to park the sub. Well, he had a long walk back, while they wondered where he had disappeared to, when the play started, the lights went down and still no dad. They didn't see hide nor hair or him until on their way out of the huge theater and saw him sitting on this couch, waiting for them with a scowl on his face. It turned out that once he walked into the lobby, the show had started and the doors were locked. A lady said he had to watch the production out in the lobby through the little TV's mounted on the ceiling. The lady's exact words were, "You'll interrupt the show if you go in now, and you're too late."

Humph, was her reaction to that. Her father had paid for his ticket, which by the way should have been free with it being a church function, and he had to be kept out of God's house because he was late. Wow, yeah. Well, the church she would be participating in that day would never turn a believer away, whether or not they were late. She could be a part of the service, and it felt like she was a part of a big family. She would be singing in the choir and playing bells that morning and yes, she was a busy girl on Sunday mornings, but she felt it was worth it because she had the chance to use her gifts to spread the word, which has always meant the world to her. As she heard the horn of the suburban, she turned off the TV and grabbed her purse. She locked the door and then ran to her parents to go worship.

When the Lindens returned home, they felt filled with the word, and at peace. Katie was happy, and felt she had learned quite a bit from the pastor's word during that service. About a half hour later the phone rang and Katie's mother picked up the phone. Katie rushed into the kitchen just as her mother spoke into the receiver, wondering if the call was for her. Katie's mother was silent and then looked over to Katie, and said, "Yes, she's right here, hold on" As she handed Katie the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me." Brian said into the receiver as he sat down in the recliner.

"What's up?"

Brian muted the TV in the living room as he said, "Is it still ok if I come by? I mean its okay with your parents?"

"Oh, yeah. It's not a problem. Plus, you'll get to see my house and we can hang out in the back yard too, if you want." Katie replied as she twisted the phone chord around her finger.

"Okay, how soon should I come?" He asked as he rocked in the recliner.

"Well, we just got home not to long ago, and I have to get changed into something more comfortable. If you leave now, it'll be ok."

"Okay, see you in a few."

"Bye"

{Click}

Katie then rushed off to her room to get changed out of the dress, and into jean shorts and a t-shirt. She had no idea what they were going to talk about, or what they were going to do, but there were a number of options and they could even go for a walk around the neighborhood. Even though they had known each other for a while, it seemed like they had known each other for longer than just six months. She still had butterflies in her stomach and the excitement was just heightening in the fact that she never imagined she would ever get the chance to date him. She worked quickly, and she came out to the living room to wait for him, and watch some TV with her dad. Wow, Discovery Channel all the way, and it just has to be the program on the `Dung Beetles'. Katie sat down and saw what he was watching, and just shook her head as she just tried not to pay attention to the nasty taste that had formed in her mouth suddenly when she saw the bug close-up on the screen working on a ball of dung…'Yuck…And this is interesting, how?' Katie thought just as the doorbell rang and took her attention away from the violated screen.

Brian and Katie spent the afternoon talking, and she showed him her home and they petted her cats and her dog Duke Wellington of Earlville. Yes, that was his actual name. He was a wonderful Yellow Labrador Retriever. He was just beautiful, and had a wonderful personality. Brian had fun playing with him. They both became hungry after a little while, and they both decided they'd spend the day outside and took a walk to West Plaza, since it was just a couple of streets down from Katie's parent's house. They went for McDonald's and Brian decided he would pay. They had a nice lunch and decided to head back to the neighborhood.

On their way back, Katie was having flashes of memories of that neighborhood from when she was a child, and told Brian whatever memories she had to give him a better idea of who she was. He listened quietly and was interested in the lady next to him; the girl who he considered had stolen his heart without notice. As Katie talked on, pointing out spots of interest, certain houses that used to house close friends of hers, they began to enter certain parts of the neighborhood that held bad memories from her childhood. These memories left a bad taste in her mouth knowing he'd want to know what had happened to her chipper attitude.

When Katie suddenly went silent, Brian looked over inquisitively at her and saw that her face had gone sad. Her gaze had fallen to something that was too distant for even him to see. He wondered what she was gonna say next, or what could have made her demeanor fall so easily. He became concerned and put a hand on her arm and stopped walking to catch her attention. Katie felt the hand on her arm, and then turned to look at him and saw the concern on his face, the question in his eyes. She did not look away from that gaze. She couldn't look away, it held too much of her heart. She felt urged by that gaze to tell him what the problem was.

"What is it? Is there something wrong? You can tell me" Brian said as his hold fell to her hand and clutched it lightly.

"Well…I don't know where to start…I don't know if I CAN tell you" Katie responded as she broke the gaze and directed her eyes to the ground between them.

Brian reached out with his left hand and touched the tip of her chin, and lifted her head to look into her eyes. What he saw made him even more worried. She had teary eyes. She was about to cry. `What is it that could make such a wonderful girl like her cry?' he thought to himself as he searched her eyes for a moment, and said, "Did something happen to you? Did something bad take place here? Tell me, please. I won't judge you." He said as his thumb rubbed away the tear that had cascaded down to her chin.

Katie stared into his eyes, and saw trust. Realizing he was not going to let them go any further from that spot, she decided to cave in.

"Well, when I was younger, this part of the neighborhood was not safe for me. You see…I have been sexually assaulted in my childhood by a couple of boys." Katie stated with shame appearing in her eyes.

Brian let his hand fall from her chin and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God, Katie. I'm so sorry. How often did this happen? Who did it?"

"Well, one of them I knew as a friend when I was a child. It happened while we were all playing a game called `Boys Chase Girls' out in his front yard. Everything was going fine, until he put me in jail, and wouldn't let me go. When I fought him, things got out of hand. Luckily, my sister was there to stop him from raping me in front of all the other kids." Katie explained as her gaze fell on that same front yard, seeming to relive the experience again, as she suddenly got a bad taste in her mouth.

Brian once again, grabbed her chin, and directed her gaze to his as he looked at her with sympathy and asked, "What happened the next time? You did say a `couple' of times, right?"

"Yes. I did. The next time I was assaulted was when I was 11 years old. It took place at this big park between the two subdivisions. There's this big playground area with a tree by it. My sister and I and quite a few of us kids used to play there all the time. I loved to climb the tree there. While I was just sitting on one of the branches of the tree, I noticed that three guys had walked up to the middle of the field. I turned and looked at them, and watched them play. I don't remember how it happened, but the oldest guy noticed I was sitting in the tree, and asked for me to come down. When I got to the ground, he walked up to me and sternly said that the area I were in was his territory, and that I had no right to be there. I told him that it was a free country and that I had every right to be there." Katie said as she once again looked away, and then walked to the curb and sat down.

Brian followed patiently and quietly. Once he was sitting next to her he said, "Continue, please?" Concern and curiosity evident in his voice.

That's when Katie looked up at him with fear in her eyes, and she swallowed very coarsely, and turned her eyes to the street in front of her. "Well, once he and I had argued for about ten minutes on whether or not I should have been allowed to roam and play in the area, he decided he wanted to introduce himself. His name was Lloyd Duns. Strangely enough, he was in high school, and the elder brother to Tim, one of my classmates. Tim was there with him, and another kid whom I figure was Tim's friend. Well, since we just kept arguing, and couldn't come to a conclusion, he decided that we would play a game. Who ever wins, stays. Who ever loses has to leave."

Katie cleared her throat as she reflected on what the game was and realized that she had forgotten it, since it wasn't that important anyways. She looked over at Brian, and he still watched her with interest on what she'd say next. "Well, I didn't understand the game, so we decided we wouldn't even try playing. So, he turned to me and asked me to follow him, and he said he needed to talk to me about something, in private." Katie then looked straight ahead at the road again as she relived that point in time in her head.

{Flash back}

Katie followed the tall young man as he walked back over to the tree she sat in not too long ago. He stopped by the tree and leaned his back against it and then turned his head to face her; his eyes watching her every move. Katie walked over towards the tree slowly, and kept her eyes on his as if to make sure he didn't try anything funny. Once she arrived just before him, shoulders squared, she looked at him with the look questioning his motives on her face. He looked her body up and down, as if judging her, or something.

"I have something to ask you." Lloyd asked with a serious tone.

Katie was shocked he wanted to know something about her, but politely asked, "What's that?"

"How old are you?"

"Uh…I'm 11, why?" Katie asked sheepishly, beginning to wonder where he was going with this…

"I was just wondering if you've ever been with a guy is all. You seem confident enough to not fear me; you obviously have some experience with guys. I just wanna know how much."

"Huh? What do you mean? Why should I be afraid of you? You expected me to cower like the poor damsel in distress? Act like a victim? Be easy prey? You're mistaken if that's what you honestly expected out of me." Katie retorted.

"Well, you know. `Guys', what kind of experience have you had? Have you ever been kissed before?" He asked nonchalantly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Uh…I've had a lot of guy friends, but I'm too young to date. I'm only 11. So, no. I've never been kissed before. Why do you wanna know?"

"Because you have that certain something about you that suggests that you are not a coward when it comes to guys at such a young age. You're stand-off-ish when you should be naive. I'm surprised you've never been kissed before. You just got that shit about you that shows you know what you want out of a guy, and it shows that you are one who's not easily won over; a challenge. Now that's what I go for." He stated with a smirk to finish it off, crossing his arms across his sculpted chest.

"Huh…Well, think what you want, but I aint interested in you, you're in high school, right? You're way too old for me, and plus you are right in the fact that I do know what I want in a guy, and you just don't fit the bill." Katie snorted as she herself took her own smug stantz and smiled maniacally.

"Oh yeah? You don't know what you have, and you obviously need it pointed out to you, so you know how to use it." He said as he raised his right arm and motioned her to step closer to him. Katie reluctantly did as he asked, and waited to see what his next move would be. Katie had been wearing a tank top that day, and her chest had not developed enough to worry about a training bra as of yet, but she had enough there to be noticed by his gaze.

As he had full attention of her eyes, he did something she did not expect. He reached into the sides of her tank top and grabbed at her small chest and held tight. Katie gasped in utter shock and under his rough hold, just froze. She could not believe what was happening to her. As he did this he said, "You need `these' to cuss."

Katie just stood there doing nothing. Out of fear of what he'd do if she struggled, especially with that strong a hold on her tender skin. She watched his eyes in fear for a few moments, and then added in a glare of anger at the violation. He noticed the anger in her eyes and then smoothly and gently let go, pulled his hands away, and smoothed down her top. He then leaned back up against the tree.

"Why did you do that? You realize I've never been touched there before? You're sick!" Katie snarled, knowing she can't erase what he had just done to her, and that she even trusted him.

He shrugged and just stepped closer and closed the distance between them and grabbed her chin, tilting her head up to look into her eyes. "You wanna learn how to kiss?"

She looked into his deceitful and untrustworthy eyes and said, "No, not with you. Especially after what you just did to me. You think I`m stupid?"

"It's simple really, here, just open your mouth." He said as he leaned in and covered her mouth with his. His mouth moved as he tried to gain entry into her mouth, but she kept her lips taught and would not open.

He pulled away and said, "I told you. You're supposed to open your mouth! It's called French Kissing!" He growled as Katie began to realize she had upset him, and he could do anything he wished to her if he so chose to. So, she decided to just brave the kiss and get this guy away from her. A mere sacrifice for escape was looking like a very good idea at the moment. `Just give him what he wants and get away!' She thought to herself as she nodded in compliance and deeply swallowed her pride.

He then leaned in and their lips touched in a chaste kiss, and then became frenching. Honestly, Katie inwardly groaned at the fact that he was such a horrible kisser. She did not feel anything that she had always hoped she'd feel with her first kiss. A disappointment she would live with the rest of her life. The one reason why she would forever hate him. He kissed her passionately for quite sometime; seemed like forever to Katie with it being such a bad kiss. As he kissed her, she realized he had snaked his arms around her and had held her close to his body and had been feeling her back, putting as much of himself into the kiss as he could. `Why would he put so much into this kiss? I'm only 11 years old! He can't be in love with me like this, we don't even know each other!' she mentally screamed as she suddenly felt something grow and harden against her tummy. As this happened, he only held her more passionately to him and it seemed like he'd never let her go.

When the kiss finally ended, she looked at him as if they had never even kissed. "That was it? What was that? Dang! I didn't even feel what I thought I would on my first kiss! You Suck!!!!" Katie shouted back at him. "You wanna see some balls? Well here they are! You are a sick Fuck!" Katie then turned and started to walk away as he ran up and grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against him as she struggled and shouted over her shoulder, "Damn it! Let me go, you sicko!" As he continued to hold her at will, she then gained control of her right arm and elbowed him.

"Ow! Damn, girl!" He shouted back as he winced from the pain she inflicted on a certain important organ, causing him to fall to his knees attempting to quench the pain.

"You deserved it, you Ass Hole! What is it you want from me? I'm a miner! You jerk! I told you I'm not interested in you! Damn it! I still play with Barbie's! You get off on that shit?"

He looked up at her and then looked back down at himself and gained his composure and then stood up straight, towering over her once again. Ten feet were all that separated them, and Katie wasn't about to let that space get any smaller. She stood ready for anything. She had been assaulted enough, and he was not getting the enjoyment of breaking her. She would never allow anyone to break her spirit, least of all that guy.

No matter how she tried to keep the distance between them equal enough for her to feel safe, he still stepped towards her and she began to panic. Then, to her dismay, he had her backed into a fence as he continued to close the distance between them. She then tried to snake away by side-stepping a bit to the left, to see if she could fake him out, and get away, but he just turned sharply and rushed towards her as she stepped backwards into a boulder and once again was cornered.

As he stepped closer to his prey once again, he smirked and kept eye contact with her and said, "Why are you so afraid of me now? I thought you couldn't be scared by me. You were all talk, weren't you, baby?"

Katie started to panic and didn't know what he was going to do next, and had no clue of how she could get away. Her heart was literally jumping up her throat, and she didn't know if she could take anymore violation. She had been looked at before by other males, and she had no idea what it was that was driving this guy to do this to her. She had done nothing wrong, right? All she was doing was sitting in a tree! Nothing more! She didn't ask for any of this, and yet she was being forced to have this experience. She just wished that a simple act of closing her eyes could be all she needed to get free from that evil approaching her. The fact that she fought and had come out unsuccessful still. How he had overpowered even her efforts to get away, or take control of the situation. She inwardly prayed that she'd find a way out.

She closed her eyes, hoping to escape the fear he had instilled in her when she felt the shadow he casted above her as the sun no longer shown on her skin. She could smell him close. She could feel him breathe on her face, feel his penetrating eyes gaze over her as she stood as rigid as a rock as he scrutinized her face. Her breathing had become labored, she was beginning to panic. She asked herself, `why hasn't anyone seen any of this? Why isn't Tim stopping his brother from his perversion over me? Why doesn't anyone see my fear, my pain of being the victim?' as she started to whine and whimper at the touch of his hands on her bare arms rubbing up and down, trying to calm her and rid her of her goose bumps at feeling the perversion of his aura envelope her skin.

"Why are you so afraid of me? I don't mean to hurt you, Katie. I didn't mean for you to react this way. I guess I did go a bit too far, but I promise I'll stop if I'm scaring you. Are you really that afraid?"

His face was so close to hers, she felt every puff of his breathe from his nose and his mouth. His voice sounded sullen, and soft. He was peaking to her passionately. He was seducing her. His intentions had become evident at that moment by the tone in his voice. Katie was frightened. She may have been mature for her age, but that didn't mean she was ready for intimacy of that kind. She finally opened her eyes open to search his eyes to find out who it was looking through his eyes. Wondering if a young man his age and in his right mind could truly allow himself to do this to an innocent girl like her, when she did nothing wrong. All she did was express her true self. She didn't act like someone she's not. Something's not right.

As he inched his face in for another kiss, she ducked and punched him, causing him to be distracted and she ran for her freedom once again, but she found herself back at square one when the two other boys jumped on the bike she had with her, meaning her get away was cut-off. Then she felt those repulsive arms around her again. This time she bit him and he released her as he looked at his arm to see if she broke the skin.

"You Vampire!" He shouted when he saw the bite marks on his arm and Katie just smiled and said, "Yeah, well you did it to yourself! You keep wrapping that arm around me, it's gonna get bitten!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the corner by the rock once again, and said, "I am not letting you go until you tell me what's wrong, why you're fighting me! I'll keep you here all night if I have to!"

That's when she realized how long she had been held captive by that jerk-off! It was mid afternoon, or around there when he had arrived in that park, and it was starting to get dark. Dusk would be upon them soon, and her parents would be worried sick about her, and God only knew what that sicko would do to her at night. Granted, she was not all that far from home, but she couldn't just get away from him either. Now she was no longer afraid `of' him, but of not getting back home to her family. That's when her focus and her fears changed. She began to be able to think straight again, and a strength she had forgotten about began to grow.

Katie looked away from him and then took a deep breathe and let it out, clearing her mind. "You really wanna know why I'm fighting you?" Katie asked him as calmly as she could, showing him she was finished fighting him.

"Yes, please. What did I do? What's wrong?" He asked as he turned her head to face him. He looked sincere and concerned strangely enough.

"Well…I want to go home because I've been gone since mid afternoon, and I can't be out after dark. I'm not mad at you. I just don't like being held against my will. Why are you holding me here like this? Is this like some strange way of getting a chance to spend some time with me? You think you need your cronies with you just to make sure I don't try to get away? You put me or any girl in a situation like that, and they will get the wrong idea. This reminded me of being held against my will and seemed more like a rape situation than any kind of `Get to know you' session. I'm not afraid of you. I'm afraid of the situation you're putting me in. You understand?" Katie stated in a plain and simple way for his small mind to understand.

"Okay. I'll back off, but I still want to see you. How do I know I'll get the chance to see you again?" He asked as he raised his arms in frustration.

`Whoa…this guy's a nutcase…I'm not old enough for this, and he's like acting like he'd lose his chance with the prize of the day!' She thought to herself as she saw him pouting in front of her as if he was her puppy and she refused to feed him his favorite meal. `Ha ha ha…this is the funniest situation I've ever been in…I can so turn this around and take advantage of this situation…' She thought to herself.

"Well, I can meet you tomorrow right around the same time. I have nothing planned, it is summer after all, and I don't have school. Should we meet here again?" She said as she genuinely smiled and fed him the look he had hoped to see.

"Well, actually…why don't we meet over by those bushes at the same time tomorrow? I have something I would like to show you." He said confidently with a smile, as if he had just gotten what he wanted…A promise of a good lay from a little girl…Yeah…Sick-Fucker.

"Okay, I'll see you then. Am I free to go now?" She asked with the pleading look of a captive.

"Yeah, you can go. See you tomorrow. Oh, and Katie…I just want you to know…I love you."

Just at the sound of those three words mocking what she had hoped had been the real reason behind her first kiss, she shuddered inwardly, but held it in so he would not suspect anything. Only, the reaction she released was, "I love you too."

As she was finally out of sight, she got off her bike and ran the rest of the way with her bike to her home, her haven. Her safety. She put her bike in the garage and then went in the house through the garage door into the kitchen. She then ran past her family eating dinner at the table and ran down the hall to her room, and slammed the door shut. She plopped down on her bed and just buried her face into her pillows and just screamed and wriggled and ran her hands over her body as if to get rid of the filth she felt all over her. Yes, she was now safe, but she felt so violated and dirty, she didn't even know if her soul could ever be cleansed from the grime she felt all over it. She was once pure, now she was tainted. She lost her first kiss, her innocence. She even cussed at him and called him names! She had never done that before! What had he done to her? She even lied to him! She planned to stand him up! This was not like her! Where did this maniacal personality come from?

A knock at her bedroom door brought her face out of her pillow, but she didn't bother to wipe the tears away. Her sister appeared in the doorway, worried about what may have happened to her little sister. If there was anything Katie was sure about, it was that her sister loved her very much. She loved her enough to confront any jerk to protect her, no matter how much of a scaredy cat she really was. Tabitha looked at her sister she walked over to the bed, and sat down next to her sister and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I…I got felt up…by this guy about your age…and he stole my first kiss…The only way I could get away from him was if I promised to meet him tomorrow…He...H-He said he loved me!" Katie exclaimed as she once again buried her face in her pillows and let her tears fall. "I was so scared Tabby! I don't know what it is about me! Why do guys do this to me? I mind my own business and they come after me like I'm some prize! I'm just a kid! What did he see in a flat chested, Barbie playing, little grade schooler like me?" Katie asked as she lifted her face out of the pillows and looked her older sister in the face, hoping she had an answer to her confusion.

"Well, you are very sweet, kind, and you don't tell lies, Katie. Evil jerks like him are always intrigued by the innocent and pure souls."

Katie looked at her like she was speaking in riddles, but she dismissed the strange answer and just laid her head back on the pillow and just relaxed under her sister's light tickle on her back. If there was any way to get Katie to calm down, or maybe even put her to sleep, is a nice back tickling session.

Tabby then asked, "You almost missed dinner. We've all been worried about where you were, or if you were even gonna come home. Dad was even thinking about taking Duke for a scavenging round of the neighborhood. C'mon, mom made roast beef hash…you're favorite."

"Okay." Katie answered as she sat up on the bed and hugged Tabby for her support. They both then walked out of the bedroom together, and sat down at the table and joined their parents for dinner.

Katie's parents asked Katie where she was and she told them the whole story, and told them how scared she was. They were proud of her strength, and her tenacity to fight back and not to let him break her. They were always happy at the fact that Katie never held anything back from them, no matter what had happened, or how embarrassing. They both knew they could trust their daughters to tell the truth proudly, and stay away from the wrong situations.

The next day, Katie did stand him up, but she went to see if the dope was still over by the bushes waiting for her. When she didn't see him, she proceeded to walk her dog, Duke. Duke was her protection. Katie was never a fast runner, but Duke could pull a Clydesdale! She could not go out without him after that incident the day before. She was told she did not have much time to be out walking the dog because she had a softball game she needed to be at in none too long, but she had to know what was gonna happen. So, dressed in her yellow and white softball uniform, she walked her dog Duke proudly. As she came around the corner where the bushes in question were, she saw him sitting on the front stoop of the last house on the block, surrounded by all the young kids in the neighborhood. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but if she was able to nonchalantly walk her dog across the street from him and he doesn't see his `Golden Girl' walking her `Golden' dog, then he was really telling a whopper to those kids. Since they hadn't noticed her, she figured it had nothing to do with her.

Well, not exactly. She watched the situation across the street very intently, to make sure that if anything happened, she would be able to jump at the ready and tell Duke to run. Suddenly, a kid turned around and yelled plain and loudly, "There she is! Lloyd! She's right there!" Katie saw his gaze shoot to her. A gaze of anger. He was mad. She saw them get up, and she right away yelled, "Duke! Run! C'mon, boy! Let's go!" Duke shot out like a bat out of hell, pulling Katie to safety. That wonderful dog ran like the wind, and they never even made it half way up the block before she reached her house, and had gotten through the front door and locked it, Tabitha there with her waiting for them to arrive at the house looking for Katie. Sure enough, they came. Only, a kid came up to the door and rang the bell. Katie looked through the window to make sure. She opened the door, and this kid asked if Katie could come out, `because Lloyd wanted to talk to her. Katie refused and said that if they didn't get off the property, that she would call the police. The kid left to tell Lloyd that she would call the police on them. Katie's gaze could be seen through the lacey curtains hung over the front room window. Lloyd looked over her father's work van at her, reading her. She met his eyes with strength and promise. She would not falter, not for him. Never.

{End of flash back}

Brian sat there, and took all of this in. He hurt at her words of pain. It killed him to hear of her being violated just because of her purity. What really hurt him the most was hearing her say that she had to lie, and hurt him to get away. That she had to be strong enough to play along and LET him do those things to her to get away. Damn it! Why was he not present? Where was he? Oh yeah…That's right…He was in grade school, but he was busy standing up against the jerks in his neck of the woods. Then and there, he had decided he would protect Katie from guys like him. Protect her from the perverts of the world. And then what Jason did to her…it's a wonder she's still sane! How she's dealt with something as scary as that was beyond his comprehension. Even he couldn't ever allow a friend; stranger or any people for that matter ever touch her!

`But…Wait…Why is her purity so important?' he asked himself. He barely knew her, and yet he already felt the need to protect her. He had never felt such anger flare up in him over another, less even a girl. She was his first love, and he hasn't even tried to kiss her yet. And yet, can he after hearing that a nut case stole her first kiss from her? If he shares his first kiss with her, he promised himself he would make it the kiss of her life. Like her first kiss over again. He wanted it to be everything he is. The purity she feels she's been lacking since that terrible day.

Katie decided she had said enough, and said she wanted to get away from that area of the neighborhood, and get back home. They walked back to her parent's house hand-in- hand. The rest of the night was nice and calm as Brian and Katie joined her parents in watching a good flick. Once it got dark out, and the movie ended, Brian then said he had to head on home. Katie then walked him out through the garage to get his bike for him.

As he mounted his bike once again, he looked at her for a moment. Then he broke the silence by saying, "Come here." Katie was shocked for a second that he said that, but she stepped closer to him. He turned his head and connected his lips to hers in a very pure and loving kiss. The kiss was everything she had hoped a first kiss would be. Not needy, but passionate, loving, giving, and above all, it was pure. The connection of their lips brought tingles through her body that made her feel alive inside from head to toe. It was like she could feel his very soul connecting with hers through his lips. Sure, Jason wowed her, but this was what she truly wanted in a kiss. Truth be told, Brian gave her the first kiss she should have had back then, `because he kissed her like no other man could ever kiss her. His first kiss was the best she ever had.